Soft FEC with parity check

ABSTRACT

The present invention is directed to data communication systems and techniques thereof. More specifically, embodiments of the present invention provide an FEC encoder that processes an interleaved data stream and generates parity symbols that are embedded into FEC blocks. An FEC decoder determines whether to perform error correction based on the parity symbols. When performing error correction, the decoder selects a worst symbol from a segment of symbols, and the worst symbol is corrected. There are other embodiments as well.

CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part application claiming priority to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/403,408, filed on May 3, 2019, which is a continuation-in-part application of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/691,023, (now U.S. Pat. No. 10,326,550, issued on Jun. 18 2019) filed on Aug. 30, 2017, which are incorporated by reference herein for all purposes.

STATEMENT AS TO RIGHTS TO INVENTIONS MADE UNDER FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

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REFERENCE TO A “SEQUENCE LISTING,” A TABLE, OR A COMPUTER PROGRAM LISTING APPENDIX SUBMITTED ON A COMPACT DISK

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BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to data communication systems and techniques thereof.

Over the last few decades, the use of communication networks has exploded. In the early days of the Internet, popular applications were limited to emails, bulletin board, and mostly informational and text-based web page surfing, and the amount of data transferred was relatively small. Today, the Internet and mobile applications demand a huge amount of bandwidth for transferring photo, video, music, and other multimedia files. For example, a social network like Facebook processes more than 500TB of data daily. With such high demands on data storage and data transfer, existing data communication systems need to be improved to address these needs.

There are both existing and proposed standards and protocols for data communication. One of the proposed data communication protocol is 802.3 bs, which is intended for high speed data transfer. Improving aspects of high-speed communication techniques (e.g., 802.3 bs protocol and 802.3 cd) is desired.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF TUE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to data communication systems and techniques thereof. More specifically, embodiments of the present invention provide an FEC encoder that processes an interleaved data stream and generates parity symbols that are embedded into FEC blocks. An FEC decoder determines whether to perform error correction based on the parity symbols. When performing error correction, the decoder selects a worst symbol from a segment of symbols, and the worst symbol is corrected. There are other embodiments as well.

According to an embodiment, the present invention provides a data transmission device, which includes an interface for receiving a data stream. The device also includes an alignment marker framer configured to frame the data stream. The device further includes a delay line configured to delay a predetermined number of bits of data stream to provide an even data block. The device additionally includes a multiplexer configured to output the even data block and an odd data block. The device includes an encoder configured to generate a plurality of forward error correction (FEC) blocks. Each of the FEC blocks has an odd section and an even section and a parity section. The FEC blocks includes a first FEC block, which has an even parity bit corresponding to the even data block and an odd parity bit corresponding to the odd data block. The device additionally includes a transmission module for transmitting the FEC blocks.

According to yet another embodiment, the present invention provides a decoding device, which includes a communication interface for receiving a data stream comprising a plurality of PAM symbols. The device also includes a mapping module for generating an FEC block based the plurality of PAM symbols. The FEC block has a parity symbol and a plurality of odd symbols and a plurality of even symbols. The device further includes a decoding module configured to perform parity check using the parity symbol and the odd symbols. The decoding module is configured to generate even blocks and odd blocks. The device also includes an alignment marker framer configured to distinguish between even blocks and odd blocks. The device further includes a delay line for delaying the odd blocks by a predetermined number of bits. The device also includes a de-interleaver for providing a data stream by aligning the even blocks and odd blocks.

It is to be appreciated that embodiments of the present invention provide many advantages over conventional techniques. Among other things, encoder and decoder modules according to embodiments of the present invention can be easily adopted into existing systems. For example, in a PAM4 based high-speed data communication system (e.g., 802.3 bs and 802.3 cd), encoder and decoder modules are implemented as outer modules that add onto existing communication chips with RS encoding scheme. The addition of parity symbol FEC according to embodiments of the present invention adds little transmission overhead (1/21), and low-power implementation can be achieved. As explained above, FEC techniques according to the present invention can readily provide over 1.5 dB of coding gain. With interleaving mechanism, parity-symbol FEC can be used in different data transmission modes, including but not limited to 50G and 100G modes.

Embodiments of the present invention can be implemented in conjunction with existing systems and processes. For example, parity symbol-based error check and correction can be easily adapted into existing communication system. Encoding and decoding modules according to embodiments of the present invention can be readily manufactured using existing manufacturing processes and systems. There are other benefits as well.

The present invention achieves these benefits and others in the context of known technology. However, a further understanding of the nature and advantages of the present invention may be realized by reference to the latter portions of the specification and attached drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The following diagrams are merely examples, which should not unduly limit the scope of the claims herein. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize many other variations, modifications, and alternatives. It is also understood that the examples and embodiments described herein are for illustrative purposes only and that various modifications or changes in light thereof will be suggested to persons skilled in the art and are to be included within the spirit and purview of this process and scope of the appended claims.

FIG. 1A is a simplified block diagram illustrating a data transmission device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 1B is a simplified diagram illustrating a data transmission device 100 according embodiments of present invention.

FIG. 2 is a simplified diagram illustrating data encoding according to embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a simplified diagram illustrating a receiver device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a graph illustrating benefits of using LLR values in error corrections.

FIG. 5 is a graph illustrating relationship between RS symbol error rate versus PAM4 Optical Signal-To-Noise Ratio (OSNR).

FIG. 6 is a simplified flow diagram illustrating an exemplary decoder error correction technique according to embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is simplified eye level diagram according to embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a graph illustrating the coding gain obtained by using the parity symbols according to embodiments of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a simplified block diagram illustrating a data transmission system 900 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a simplified diagram illustrating data interleaving according to embodiments of the present invention.

In FIG. 11 is a simplified diagram illustrating a de-interleaving process according embodiments of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to data communication systems and techniques thereof. More specifically, embodiments of the present invention provide an FEC encoder that processes an interleaved data stream and generates parity symbols that are embedded into FEC blocks. An FEC decoder determines whether to perform error correction based on the parity symbols. When performing error correction, the decoder selects a worst symbol from a segment of symbols, and the worst symbol is corrected. There are other embodiments as well.

As explained above, it is desirable to improve data rate and accuracy in data communication systems. For example, in high-speed data communication systems, Reed-Solomon (RS) encoding is often used. In various embodiments, the present invention take advantage of existing encoding scheme sand uses parity symbol to improve accuracy and performance of data transmission.

The following description is presented to enable one of ordinary skill in the art to make and use the invention and to incorporate it in the context of particular applications. Various modifications, as well as a variety of uses in different applications will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be applied to a wide range of embodiments. Thus, the present invention is not intended to be limited to the embodiments presented, but is to be accorded the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a more thorough understanding of the present invention. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the art that the present invention may be practiced without necessarily being limited to these specific details. In other instances, well-known structures and devices are shown in block diagram form, rather than in detail, in order to avoid obscuring the present invention.

The reader's attention is directed to all papers and documents which are filed concurrently with this specification and which are open to public inspection with this specification, and the contents of all such papers and documents are incorporated herein by reference. All the features disclosed in this specification, (including any accompanying claims, abstract, and drawings) may be replaced by alternative features serving the same, equivalent or similar purpose, unless expressly stated otherwise. Thus, unless expressly stated otherwise, each feature disclosed is one example only of a generic series of equivalent or similar features.

Furthermore, any element in a claim that does not explicitly state “means for” performing a specified function, or “step for” performing a specific function, is not to be interpreted as a “means” or “step” clause as specified in 35 U.S.C. Section 112, Paragraph 6. In particular, the use of “step of” or “act of” in the Claims herein is not intended to invoke the provisions of 35 U.S.C. 112, Paragraph 6.

Please note, if used, the labels left, right, front, back, top, bottom, forward, reverse, clockwise and counter clockwise have been used for convenience purposes only and are not intended to imply any particular fixed direction. Instead, they are used to reflect relative locations and/or directions between various portions of an object.

FIG. 1A is a simplified block diagram illustrating a data transmission device according to an embodiment of the present invention. This diagram is merely an example, which should not unduly limit the scope of the claims. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize many variations, alternatives, and modifications. As shown in FIG. 1A, at the top level, an ASIC section encodes signals for transmission. For example, RS encoding is performed. The framing and distribution section encode signals that are framed into data blocks and distributes the data blocks to different communication channels. The parity check and encoding section performs parity check and inserts parity bits into data blocks.

FIG. 1B is a simplified diagram illustrating a data transmission device 100 according embodiments of present invention. This diagram is merely an example, which should not unduly limit the scope of the claims. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize many variations, alternatives, and modifications. In various embodiments, the data transmission device is configured in compliance with 802.3 bs standard, but it is understood that other communication standards and protocols may be used as well. For example, the data transmission device 100 can be configured for transmitting data at a rate of 400 Gbps or higher. Data at a high transmission rate are received and processed by receiving interface 101. For example, data may be received via copper wires and/or optical communication channels. The received data are encoded by encoder 102 and encoder 103. According to various embodiments, encoder 102 comprises Reed-Solomon (RS) encoder that encodes and generates a first data stream. For example, the first data stream is divided into 10-bits blocks, which may be specified by a predetermined encoding scheme. For example, the RS encoder uses RS (544, 514) encoding scheme. Similarly, encoder 103 is (similar to encoder 102) implemented with an RS encoder to generate a second data stream with 10-bits blocks. The first data stream and the second data stream, respectively generated by encoder 102 and encoder 103, are distributed into eight communication lanes by multiplexer 104. For example, each of the eight communication lanes transmits data blocks from both the first data stream and the second data stream. In various embodiments, the eight communication lanes are physical coding sublayer (PCS) lanes, and each of the eight communication lanes transmits data from both the first data stream and the second data stream. For example, data blocks from the first data stream and the second data stream can be interleaved according to a predetermined pattern. Multiplexer 105 distributes data streams from the eight communication lanes into four communication lanes. For example, the four communication lanes can be CDAUI lanes. It is to be appreciated that according to embodiments of the present invention, interface 101, encoder 102, encoder 103, multiplexer 104, and multiplexer 105 are configured as components of a host chip. For example, encoder module 110 is implemented as a separate chip that is coupled to the host chip. Encoder module 110 provides forward error correction (FEC) that reduces bit-error rate (BER) and improves performance.

As shown in FIG. 1B, encoder module 110 includes four encoder lanes, which correspond to the four communication lanes from multiplexer 105. For example, the four encoder lanes perform encoding in parallel, and the encoder module 110 is substantially insensitive to PCS lane skews. Data streams on each of four communication lanes include data blocks encoded by both encoder 102 and encoder 103. As described above, each of the data blocks includes 10 bits. At encoder module 110, each of the encoder lanes includes a splitter module, a pair of amplitude modulation (AM) lock modules, an encoder module, and a Gray mapping module. More specifically, an encoder lane of the encoder module 110 first splits the incoming data streams into even and odd bits. As an example, splitter module 111 splits a data stream from multiplexer 105 into even and odd bits. Even bits are then processed by even AM (“AM E” in FIG. 1B) lock module 112A, and odd bits are processed by odd AM (“AM O”) lock module 112B. The AM lock modules 112A and 112B are configured to determine and lock boundary for RS symbols by using amplitude modulation techniques. For example, AM lock module 112A generates a stream of even data blocks, and AM lock module 112B generates a stream of odd data blocks. Encoder 113 encodes even data blocks and odd data blocks into forward-error correction (FEC) blocks. In various embodiments, each of the FEC blocks includes an even section, an odd section, and a parity section. The even section includes ten even data blocks (e.g., PAM4 symbols). The odd section includes ten odd data sections. The parity section includes an even parity bit corresponding to the even section and an odd parity bit corresponding to the odd section. For example, the parity section is later mapped into a PAM4 parity symbol. The Gray mapping module 114 maps FEC blocks into an output data stream for transmission. For example, the output data stream can be transmitted through various types of communication links at high speed.

FIG. 2 is a simplified diagram illustrating data encoding according to embodiments of the present invention. This diagram is merely an example, which should not unduly limit the scope of the claims. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize many variations, alternatives, and modifications. For example, FIG. 2 can be used to illustrate operation of data transmission device 100. As shown in FIG. 2, two encoders (Enc0 and Enc1) generate two data streams 204 and 205 as shown, and each of the data streams includes 10-bit data blocks. For example, shaded bits are generated by Enc0 and non-shaded bits are generated by Enc1. The two data streams 204 and 205 are then distributed to eight communication lanes (e.g., 8 PCS lanes) as eight data streams. It is to be appreciated that the encoded data can be distributed and multiplexed in other ways, and FIG. 2 merely provides a specific example. For example, data stream 201 includes alternating 10-bit data blocks from both data streams 204 and 205; data stream 202 also includes alternating 10-bit data blocks from both data streams 204 and 205. The eight data streams from the eight PCS lanes are then distributed by the 8:4 multiplexer as shown. An exemplary arrangement of data blocks is shown. Data stream 203 combines (or interleave) data blocks from data streams 201 and 202. More specifically, data stream 203 includes interleaved blocks of data blocks from data stream 201 and 202.

As described above, the four data streams are then encoded by the encoding module. For example, data stream 203 (one of the four data streams) is split into an even data stream 206 and an odd data stream 207. In various implementations, data stream 206 includes segments of even data bit symbols (e.g., 10 data symbols a₀ to a₁₉); data stream 207 includes segments of odd data bit symbols (e.g., 10 data symbols b₀ to b₁₉). The data symbols are provided by amplitude modulation locking modules, where the symbols are locked based on RS symbol boundary. Data streams 206 and 207 are then encoded and combined. For example, FEC encoding is performed on data streams 206 and 207. The resulting data stream 208 includes FEC blocks. In various implementations, FEC data blocks each includes 21 symbols: 10 even symbols, 10 odd symbols, and a parity symbol. For example, the even symbols (e.g., symbol a₁a₀) are positioned in a continuous segment, and the odd symbols (e.g., symbol b₁b₀) are positioned in a continuous segment adjacent to the even segment. The parity symbol includes two parity bits: p_(a) corresponding to even segment 206, and p_(b) corresponding to the odd segment 207. The FEC blocks are then mapped using Gray mapping for transmission. For example, the FEC blocks are transmitted using PAM protocol. For example, PAM4 may be used for data transmission. For data transmission, the parity symbol can provide a coding gain of about 1.65 dB.

It is to be appreciated that the use of parity symbols as a part of the encoding module can be implemented to compliment 802.3 bs data communication systems. For example, on the communication lane, 21 PAM4 symbols meet two even parity constraints. The addition of parity symbols increases the data rate of the communication line. For example, the data rate increase from 26.5625 e9 to 26.5625 e9*21/20=27.890625 GHz. And in implementation, four 52 Gb/s Rx/DSP cores operate in parallel.

Embodiments of the present invention provide decoding devices and techniques to take advantage of encoding techniques described above. For example, a decoder module determines the existence of error at a given FEC block using the parity symbol. A maximum likelihood decoder is then used to locate the error symbol within the FEC block, and the error symbol is corrected using a “flip” function, which is described in further detail below.

An FEC block (e.g., FEC block 208) in FIG. 2, which is encoded with a parity symbol, includes 21 symbols. For example, after performing Gray mapping, PAM4 symbols transmitted over a communication includes one (21, 20) FEC block as [d₀, d₁, . . . , d₂₀], where d₂₀ is the parity symbol resulting from the Gray mapping of the 2 parity bits. For example, d₀-d₉ correspond to even blocks in FIG. 2, d₁₀-d₁₉ correspond to odd blocks, and d₂₀ corresponds to the parity block. By definition d₀ is the first transmitted symbol and d₂₀ is the last one. The two even parity constraints can be expressed, after Gray mapping, in terms of PAM4 symbols d_(i), using Equation 1 below:

$\begin{matrix} \frac{\oplus_{i}^{9}{= {{0^{d_{i}}\lbrack O\rbrack} = {{d_{20}\lbrack O\rbrack} \oplus {{d_{20}\lbrack 1\rbrack}\mspace{14mu}\left( {{par}\; 1} \right)}}}}}{\oplus_{i}^{19}{= {{1{0^{d_{i}}\lbrack O\rbrack}} = {{pol} \oplus {{d_{20}\lbrack 1\rbrack}\mspace{14mu}\left( {{par}\; 2} \right)}}}}} & {{Equation}\mspace{11mu} 1} \end{matrix}$

In Equation 1, the symbol ⊕ (xor) denotes additions and pol is a polarity inversion flag based on the polarity inversion. For example, polarity inversion detection is used as a part of the FEC word synchronization.

FIG. 3 is a simplified diagram illustrating a receiver device according to an embodiment of the present invention. This diagram is merely an example, which should not unduly limit the scope of the claims. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize many variations, alternatives, and modifications. For example, receiver device 300 processes signals received from data transmission device 100 illustrated in FIG. 1B. More specifically, receiver device 300 uses parity symbols for error correction.

Incoming data are received through receiving interface 301. Equalizer 302 processes (e.g., equalization) the incoming data for further processing. Gray mapping is performed by the Gray mapping module 303, which yields PAM4 symbols. The PAM4 symbols are grouped into FEC blocks. As explained above, a single FEC block includes 21 symbols: 10 odd symbols, 10 even symbols, and a parity symbol. For example, based on the final equalizer output x_(i), the FEC decoder 304 first achieves FEC block synchronization. Usually, the synchronization process is not overly complex. For example, after equalization and synchronization, FEC blocks processed by FEC decoder 304 are provided as [x₀, x₁, . . . , x₂₀]. The FEC decoder 304 receives 21 PAM4 preliminary decisions, d_(i), from the PAM4 slicer 305, where each d_(i) symbol is 2-bit binary. FEC decoder 304 further receives three optimal threshold values for each one the 3 sub-eyes (of the four PAM4 eye levels) from DSP 306.

For the purpose of illustration, threshold for the eye levels are denoted as Th(eye id), where eye id=0,1,2. In an exemplary implementation, Th(0) and Th(2) are 9.6 and Th(1) is 7.6. For each of the 21 symbols in an FEC block, there are corresponding 21 2-bit 2 b eye_id {0, 1, 2}, and each is denoted as E_(i). For example, E_(i) indicates the sub-eye at which belongs sample x_(i). For example, by having sign of the error signal for all bauds (e.g., generated by DSP 306), E_(i) can be easily determined. In various embodiments, a single bit polarity inversion pol is used.

As explained above, FEC decoder 304 uses the parity symbol to determine whether error correction is to be performed. And if error correction is to be performed based on the parity symbol, the symbol with the highest likelihood to be erroneous is “flipped”. To locate the erroneous bit, log likelihood ratio (LLR) calculation is performed for each data symbol x_(i) of the given FEC block. The data symbol corresponding the lowest LLR value within a data segment is selected as the “worst” symbol and most likely to be erroneous. The PAM4 levels after equalization are denoted as L(d) and the noise variance per level is denoted as σ²(d). Knowing the coding of FEC is much smaller than 6 dB, the decoder is configured to only flip PAM4 symbols within the same sub-eye. Given x_(i) and d_(i) and if we denote d′_(i) for the other PAM4 symbol from the same sub-eye E_(i), the value of log-likelihood ratio (LLR) be expressed by Equation 2 below:

$\begin{matrix} \left. {{\left. {{{LLR}\left( x_{i} \right)} = {{\left\lbrack \left( {\frac{1}{\sigma\left( d_{i} \right)} + \frac{1}{\sigma\left( d_{i}^{\prime} \right)}} \right) \right\rbrack x_{i}} - \frac{L\left( d_{i}^{\prime} \right)}{\sigma\left( d_{i}^{\prime} \right)} - \frac{L\left( d_{i} \right)}{\sigma\left( d_{i} \right)}}} \right\rbrack \times \left\lbrack \left( {\frac{1}{\sigma\left( d_{i}^{\prime} \right)} - \frac{1}{\sigma\left( d_{i} \right)}} \right) \right\rbrack x_{i}} - \frac{L\left( d_{i}^{\prime} \right)}{\sigma\left( d_{i}^{\prime} \right)} - \frac{L\left( d_{i} \right)}{\sigma\left( d_{i} \right)}} \right\rbrack & {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 2} \end{matrix}$

For example Equation 2 can be simplified to Equation 3 below:

$\begin{matrix} {{{{LLR}\left( x_{i} \right)} = {{K\left( E_{i} \right)} \times \left( {x_{i} - {{Th}\left( E_{i} \right)}} \right)\mspace{14mu}{where}}},{{K\left( E_{i} \right)} = {\left( {\frac{1}{\sigma\left( d_{i} \right)} + \frac{1}{\sigma\left( d_{i}^{\prime} \right)}} \right) \times \left\lbrack {\frac{L\left( d_{i} \right)}{\sigma\left( d_{i} \right)} - \frac{L\left( d_{i}^{\prime} \right)}{\sigma\left( d_{i}^{\prime} \right)}} \right\rbrack}}} & {{Equation}\mspace{14mu} 3} \end{matrix}$

The term K(Ei) in Equation 3 intuitively conveys the sub-eye SNR information. The closer x_(i) is from the corresponding threshold, the lower LLR gets. FIG. 4 is a graph illustrating benefits of using LLR values in error corrections. More specifically, FIG. 4 illustrates RS 10-bit word error rate versus slicer SNR (or PAM4). As can be seen in FIG. 4, the FEC limit shown as dash line 401. The error rate associated with decoding with optimal LLR is illustrated by curve 403. The error rate associated with decoding with simplified 4-bit LLR is illustrated by curve 404. As graph in FIG. 4 clearly demonstrates, the error rates associated with decoding that uses LLR (optimal or simplified 4-bit) are much lower than error rate associated with uncoded RS (curve 402).

FIG. 5 is a graph illustrating relationship between RS symbol error rate versus PAM4 Optical Signal-To-Noise Ratio (OSNR). The FEC limit shown as dash line 501. The error rate associated with decoding with optimal LLR is illustrated by curve 503. The error rate associated with decoding with simplified 4-bit LLR is illustrated by curve 504. The benefit of using LLR values is clear in the context of optical communication: the error rates associated with decoding that uses LLR (optimal or simplified 4-bit) are much lower than error rate associated with uncoded RS (curve 502).

Concerning the range of SNR (e.g., FIG. 4) and OSNR (e.g., FIG. 5) of interest, one could ignore the eye-dependent term K(E_(i)) and truncate the LLR to a relatively low resolution. Also, because the decoding scheme only requires the absolute value of LLR, the term abs(x_(i)−Th(E_(i))) can be truncated to low resolution and possibly saturated. The terms (x_(i)−Th(E_(i))) are already computed as part of the slicer logic.

FIG. 6 is a simplified flow diagram illustrating an exemplary decoder error correction technique according to embodiments of the present invention. This diagram is merely an example, which should not unduly limit the scope of the claims. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize many variations, alternatives, and modifications. For example, one or more steps may be added, removed, repeated, rearranged, modified, replaced, and/or overlapped, which should limit the claims.

Step 601. Upon receiving an FEC block with 21 symbols, the decoder first check the parity symbol to determine whether there are one or more parity errors. In various embodiments, a parity symbol includes an even parity bit for 10 even symbols and an odd parity bit for 10 odd parity symbols. For example, the 10 even symbols are first ten symbols of the FEC block, and the 10 odd symbols are the second ten symbols of the FEC block. For example, Equation 1 is used to perform parity check.

$\begin{matrix} \frac{\oplus_{i}^{9}{= {{0^{d_{i}}\lbrack O\rbrack} = {{d_{20}\lbrack O\rbrack} \oplus {{d_{20}\lbrack 1\rbrack}\mspace{14mu}\left( {{par}\; 1} \right)}}}}}{\oplus_{i}^{19}{= {{1{0^{d_{i}}\lbrack O\rbrack}} = {{pol} \oplus {{d_{20}\lbrack 1\rbrack}\mspace{14mu}\left( {{par}\; 2} \right)}}}}} & {{Equation}\mspace{11mu} 1} \end{matrix}$

For example, if the parity of the given FEC block is incorrect, the parity inversion flag pol is set.

Step 602. Based on the parity check performed at step 601, the decoder determines whether to perform error correction. For example, if the parity symbol checks out, the decoder simply output the 20 symbols without error correction, and the decoding process proceeds to step 606. On the other hand, if the parity symbol does not check out (e.g., based on Equation 1), error correction is needed, and the process proceeds to step 603.

Step 603. Once it is determined that error correction is to be performed, the decoder needs to locate the erroneous symbol and perform error correction on the erroneous symbol. As explained above, likelihoods of error for the data symbols is selected based their respective LLR values. In various embodiments, a first minimum LLR is determined for the first segment (i.e., first group of ten symbols) of the FEC block and a second minimum LLR is determined for second segment (i.e., second group of ten symbols) of the FEC block.

At step 604, symbols that are most likely to be erroneous (“worst” symbols) are selected. For example, the “worst” symbol(s) are the symbols associated with the lowest LLR values, and respectively there is a worst symbol for the first segment and another worst symbol for the second segment. The selection of “worst” symbols using LLR values is explained above. It is to be appreciated that the “worst” symbols can be selected using other techniques and/or algorithms as well. While there are worst symbols for both the first segment and the second segment of symbols (the term “worst” describes the relative likelihood of being erroneous within a segment), actual error correction or “flip” of worst symbol(s) is performed only if the corresponding parity bits is “off” for the corresponding segment of symbols. Correcting of “flipping” of the worst symbol is performed at step 605.

Step 605. At step 605, the worst symbol is changed to its next nearest value. For example, the “flipping” of symbol values can be illustrated and explained in FIG. 7. FIG. 7 is simplified eye level diagram according to embodiments of the present invention. This diagram is merely an example, which should not unduly limit the scope of the claims. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize many variations, alternatives, and modifications. Four levels (+3, +1, −1, and −3) are provided for PAM4 communication. Each of the incoming data symbols, once decoded, is assigned to one of the four levels. In ideal cases, a data symbol would be very close to one of the four levels and thus easily assigned. For example, symbol “x” is close to level “+1” and is assigned to “+1”. Similarly, symbol “y” is close to level “−1” and is assigned to “−1”. For a symbol that is close to the middle positions (e.g., three dashed lines between the four levels), the likelihood of symbol error is high. For example, symbol “z” is very close to the middle dash line between level “+1” and level “−1”. Assume symbol “z” is processed and decoded correctly, it would be assigned to “+1”. However, if the parity bit indicates that there is a wrong symbol, symbol “z” is much more likely to be erroneous than symbols “x” and “y”, and thus should be “flipped” to the next nearest level, which is “−1”. In such way, the symbols that are closest to the dashed line are the worst symbols. Similarly, for an erroneous symbol positioned between “+1” and “+3”, flipping the symbols means changing the symbol value from “+1” to “+3” or the other way around; for an erroneous symbol positioned between levels “−1” and “−3”, flipping the symbols means changing the symbol value from “−1” to “−3” or the other way around.

Now referring back to FIG. 6. Depending on the parity check results, one or more “worst” symbols are corrected by flipping to the second nearest PAM level. Once symbol correction is performed, the decoder proceeds to step 606 to output data symbols.

Depending on the implementation, the corrected data symbols are then processed in reverse to the data flow process illustrated in FIG. 2. For example, data symbols are recombined into data streams and RS decoding is later performed.

The decoding/correction processed illustrated in FIG. 7 can be implemented using the pseudo code below:

1. Check the parity equations based on the preliminary decisions. Equation 1 is used to determine par1 and par2.

2. If parities are met, output (d_(i))0≤i≤19. If not go to step 3.

3. Calculate the minimum value and index of ALLR i for i=0 . . . 9. Call it v₀ (ALLR value) and i₀ (index). Do same for ALLR i for i=10 . . . 19, call the results v₁ and i₁.

4. If par1 is false: if E₂₀=0 or E₂₀=2, (v₀<ALLR₂₀) ? flip(di₀,Ei₀). if E₂₀=1, flip(di₀,Ei₀).

5. if par2 is false: if E₂₀=0 or E₂₀=2, flip(di₁,Ei₁). if E₂₀=1, (v₁<ALLR₂₀) ? flip(di₁,Ei₁).

As an example, the flip(d,E) function above is illustrated in FIG. 7, which is to output the other PAM4 symbol of the eye E and can be implemented using the following pseudo code:

out[0]=not d[0]

out[1]=xor(d[1],E[0])

It is to be appreciated that the use of parity symbols and correcting “worst” symbols can effectively improve data transmission. FIG. 8 is a graph illustrating the coding gain obtained by using the parity symbols according to embodiments of the present invention. Curve 802 illustrates bit-error-rate (BER) of data transmission when parity symbols are used, and curve 801 illustrates BER when parity symbols are not used. At the same PAM SNR levels, the use of parity symbols can effectively reduce BER and thus improve performance. For example, the use of parity symbols provides a coding gain of 1.65 dB coding gain, or PAM4 SER=3.4 E−3. Taking the overhead of adding parity symbol, the net coding gain is about 1.45 dB, which is calculated from 1.65−10 log 10*(21/20). It is also to be appreciated the both encoder and decoder that use the parity symbol can be implemented using power efficient chips.

In 200G and 400G Ethernet applications, uncorrectable parity check blocks are distributed to two independent encoders for processing. For example, as shown in FIG. 1B, received data are processed by encoder 102 and encoder 103 (see also Enc0 and Enc1 in FIG. 2). However, for 50G and 100G data transmission modes, only one FEC encoder (e.g., RS FEC or KP FEC) is allocated for each physical lane. Referring back to the FIGS. 1B and 2 (and descriptions thereof), each uncorrectable parity check block is distributed to two independent FEC (e.g., RS or KP FEC) encoder blocks (per standard) and hence the overall coding gain is the sum of parity check gain and FEC coding gain. In various embodiments, incoming data for a data lane are interleaved into independent FEC blocks, which allows for the single FEC block to process the parity check information described above.

FIG. 9 is a simplified block diagram illustrating a data transmission system 900 according to an embodiment of the present invention. This diagram is merely an example, which should not unduly limit the scope of the claims. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize many variations, alternatives, and modifications. It is to be understood that depending on the implementation, a communication device may include some functional blocks of the data transmission system 900. For example, a transceiver device, as implemented according to embodiments of the present invention, includes both a receiving side and a transmitting side. An exemplary transmission device would receive data from a host device, and process data with blocks 901-908, and transmit data through the PAM4 channel 908. A receiving device would receive data from PAM4 channel 909, process data with blocks 910-917, and provide the data to another host device as shown. There can be other variations according to embodiments of the present invention as well. In a specific embodiment, system 900 includes a 50G/100G interface for connecting with host over M physical lanes carrying PAM4 traffic. There are N number of physical lanes between block 904 and block 913.

Data received from the host is first processed by the FEC-Lane (FECL) bit de-interleaver 901. For example, the host transmits data at a rate of 100 Gbps, and the interface between the host and block 902 includes M (e.g., M=1, 2, 4, etc.) number of physical lanes. Between block 901 and 904, P (e.g., P=1, 2, 4, etc.) number of physical lanes are used.

In a specific embodiment, and FECL bit-deinterleaver 901 generates four (i.e., P=4) FEC data streams be processed by AM framer 902. Typically, there is an alignment marker stream embedded in the Ethernet Nx50G traffic. For example, each rate (such as 50G, 100G, 200G and 400G) has its own AM structure that is distinct but structurally similar. For example, an AM includes codes that arrive in certain frequency (or interval) and carry certain pre-defined values. Among other things, a function of AM framer 902 is to lock to AM sequence. In various embodiments, alignment markers are also used for parity check. For example, alignment markers are used to symbol align parity check code with RS symbols, as the RS FEC blocks are aligned to the alignment markers. By ordering FEC blocks using alignment markers, RS FEC blocks can be assigned to even and odd blocks (e.g., the first block or block “0” would be even, and the next block or block “1” would be odd, and so on). As explained below, AM framer 902 provides an important function for interleaver 904. For example, for each of the FECLs, block 902 searches for AM boundary associated with the starting of an RS FEC codeword. The four framed data streams generated by AF framer 902 are processed at block 903 (processing four data streams) for FECL deskewing process as shown, which removes data misalignment. For example, there is an FECL de-skew block corresponding to each of the P number of FEC lanes. In a specific embodiment, through the P number of FEC lanes, RS FEC symbols are de-skewed by up to 9 bits for aligning each FEC lanes to the 10-bit RS symbol boundary.

Block 904 includes P number of interleavers, each of the interleavers includes a delay line 905 and an RS symbol multiplexer 906. In various implementations, delay line 905 includes a buffer unit that stores at least 5440 bits (or other bit size depending on the specific implementation). Multiplexer 906 performs multiplexing by selecting (e.g., reading 10 bits at a time) between direct output of block 903 and the output of the delay line 905, thereby generating interleaved data blocks. Block 904 output P lanes of data, which is concerted to N data streams at block 907 a. For example, block 907 a multiplexes 20-bits data segments from each of the P FEC lanes in a round robin fasion to for the N data stream for SFEC encoding.

The SFEC encoder 907 b inserts parity bit information into the interleaved blocks. For example, there are N number of SFEC encoder block corresponding to N data stream generated by block 907 a. In various embodiments, the SFEC encoder 907 concatenates extra soft-FEC (i.e., parity check for even and odd FEC blocks) symbols to the existing (in the host or the device, and standard compliant) KP/RS FEC. For example, the use of parity information is illustrated in FIG. 2 and explained above. As explained above, the total coding gain provided by the SFEC 907 is the sum of FEC coding gain and the parity bit coding gain. It is to be appreciated that by using interleaving and-de-interleaving techniques, 50G and 100G communication can benefit from similar coding gain as 200G and 400G communication protocols with relatively small amount of additional hardware used for interleaving.

FIG. 10 is a simplified diagram illustrating data interleaving according to embodiments of the present invention. This diagram is merely an example, which should not unduly limit the scope of the claims. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize many variations, alternatives, and modifications. An incoming data stream, which has been aligned into blocks of 5440 bits, includes data blocks 1002 and 1004, and additional data blocks stream 1005. In various embodiments, block blocks 1002 and 1004 are FEC blocks. For example, data block 1002 comes earlier is an even data block (e.g., block zero), and data block 1004 comes right after data block 1002 and is an odd data block (e.g., block one). During the interleaving process, data block 1002 is stored at delay line 905 and read by multiplexer 906, and data block 1004 is read from block 903. In a specific embodiment, the interleaved data stream consists of 21-bit data blocks, such as data block 1009. The first portion 1006 of data block 1009 comes from the first ten bits (i.e., portion 1001) of data block 1002, and the first portion 1006 can be referred to as even portion of the data block 1009. The second portion 1007 of data block 1009 comes from the first ten bits (i.e., portion 1003) of data block 1003, and the second portion 1007 can be referred to as the odd portion. The last bit 1008 is generated by SFEC encoder 907 b, and it is a parity bit that can provide a coding gain of about 1.7 dB. For example, benefits of the parity coding gain are explained above.

As explained above, an important aspect of interleaving is to have framed data blocks, as provided by the AM framer 902. When interleaving the frame data stream (i.e., data blocks), the interleaver 904 needs to locate the start of each data block (e.g., block 1002, block 1004).

Now referring back to FIG. 9. Encoded data are then transmitted by physical medium dependent (PMD) block 908 to data channel 909. For example, data are transmitted through a PAM4 channel 909. For example, data channel 909 includes N physical data channels.

On the other side of PAM4 channel 909, receiver PMD block 910 receives the data transmitted by transmission block 908 through PAM4 channel 909. The received data are first processed by a 20-bit framer 911 as shown, and then processed by SFEC farmer 911. It is to be appreciated that the SFEC decoder 912 a makes use of both parity bits and FEC encoding. For example, there are N number of SFEC decoders for decoding N data streams. Block 912 b converts the N data streams into P data streams for transmission over P physical data links. The decoded data are de-interleaved at block 913. De-interleaver 913, as shown, includes an AM framer 914, a de-mux 915, and a delay line 916. For example, there are P de-interleavers corresponding to P data streams. Among other features, AM framer 914 is configured to identify data blocks (i.e., 21 bit blocks with odd and even portions and a parity bit). For example, AM framer 914 searches for boundaries of RS words. In various implementations, the use of interleaving technique and AM framer 914 is specific to 50G and 100G implementations, as there are even and odd blocks that need to be distinguished by AM framer 914. As shown in FIG. 9, delay line 916 delays 5440 bits of data of the odd FEC blocks, as the 5440 bits of data are reconstructed from the odd portions of 21-bits data blocks. As described above, even blocks were delayed at delay line 905 before SFEC encoding, and in symmetry, odd blocks are delayed at delay line 916. In various implementations, other framer formats or configurations may be used as well.

In FIG. 11 is a simplified diagram illustrating a de-interleaving process according embodiments of the present invention. This diagram is merely an example, which should not unduly limit the scope of the claims. One of ordinary skill in the art would recognize many variations, alternatives, and modifications. For example, an interleaved block 1101 of 21 bits includes two 10-bit data blocks and a parity bit. The parity bit is used for SFEC decoding (i.e., processed by SFEC decoder 912 a). The two 10-bit data blocks are de-interleaved into the two large data blocks (each with 5440 bits) as shown. The AM framer 914 in FIG. 9 facilitates the alignment of data blocks. The output of block is processed by block 917 to interleave into M (e.g., M=2) data streams corresponding to the number of physical link used by the host. For example, a four data streams (i.e., M=4) are processed by the FECL bit-interleaver 917 as shown. For example, the FELC bit-interleaver 917 generates M data streams (e.g., one data stream, two data streams, or four data streams) for transmission over the physical data links used by the host.

In various embodiments, system 900 can operate in different modes. In certain implementations, interleaving is unnecessary (e.g., 200G and 400G modes) during SFEC encoding process, and the communication system can turn off or bypass the interleaving and de-interleaving blocks. There are other embodiments as well.

While the above is a full description of the specific embodiments, various modifications, alternative constructions and equivalents may be used. Therefore, the above description and illustrations should not be taken as limiting the scope of the present invention which is defined by the appended claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A data transmission device comprising: an interface configured to receive one or more input data streams; a forward error correction (FEC) lane de-interleaver configured to de-interleave the one or more input data streams into four de-interleaved streams; an alignment marker framer configured to frame the four de-interleaved data streams to generate four framed data streams; an interleaver configured to generate an intermediate data stream based on the four framed streams, the intermediate data stream comprising an even data block and an odd data block based on a predetermined block size; a delay line configured to delay a predetermined number of bits of the intermediate data stream to provide the even data block; a multiplexer configured to output the even data block and the odd data block; an encoder module configured to generate a plurality of FEC blocks, each of the FEC blocks comprising an odd section corresponding to the odd data block and an even section corresponding to the even data block and a parity section, the odd section comprising parity information for the odd block data block, the FEC blocks including a first FEC block, the first FEC block including a parity bit based on a parity of the first FEC block; and a transmission module configured to transmit the FEC blocks.
 2. The device of claim 1 further comprising a de-skew module configured to de-skew by aligning the even data blocks and the odd data blocks.
 3. The device of claim 1 wherein the encoder module is configured to perform Reed-Solomon (RS) FEC encoding.
 4. The device of claim 1 wherein the FEC blocks are transmitted through a pulse-amplitude modulation 4 (PAM4) channel.
 5. The device of claim 1 wherein the predetermined number of bits is 5440 bits.
 6. The device of claim 1 further comprising an FEC-lane (FECL) deskew module configured to de-skew the four framed streams.
 7. The device of claim 1 wherein respective ones of the FEC blocks correspond to a plurality of PAM4 symbols.
 8. The device of claim 1 wherein the encoder module is configured to calculate the parity bit.
 9. The device of claim 1 wherein the device is compatible with an IEEE 802.3 bs standard and with an IEEE 802.3 cd standard.
 10. The device of claim 1 wherein the parity section provides at least 1.2 dB coding gain when interleaving the odd data block and the even data block.
 11. A communication system comprising: an interleaver configured to provide a data stream that includes even data blocks and odd data blocks, both the even data blocks and the odd data blocks having a first block size; a forward error correction (FEC) encoder configured to generate FEC blocks, each of the FEC blocks including an even portion and an odd portion and a parity bit, the FEC blocks being characterized by a second block size different from the first block size; a data communication channel configured to transmit the FEC blocks; an FEC decoder configured to decode the blocks and to generate a decoded data stream; a first de-interleaver configured to generate a de-interleaved data stream based on the decoded data stream; a second de-interleaver configured to generate four data streams based on the de-interleaved data stream; and an FEC-lane (FECL) interleaver configured to generate one or more data streams for a host device based on the four data streams.
 12. The system of claim 11 wherein the first block size is 5440 bits.
 13. The system of claim 11 wherein the data communication channel comprises a pulse-amplitude modulation (PAM) channel.
 14. The system of claim 11 wherein the FEC encoder includes a mapping module configured to perform Gray code mapping.
 15. The system of claim 11 wherein the FEC blocks comprise pulse-amplitude modulation 4 (PAM4) symbols.
 16. A communication device comprising: a communication interface configured to transmit forward error correction (FEC) data blocks, each of the FEC data blocks comprising an even section and an odd section and a parity bit; an FEC decoder configured to provide bit-error correction for the FEC data blocks based on the parity bit and to generate a decoded data stream; an alignment marker (AM) framer configured to generate a framed data stream by locating boundaries from the decoded data stream and inserting alignment markers; a first de-interleaver configured to generate an output data stream by de-interleaving the framed data stream defined by odd data blocks and even data blocks; and a second de-interleaver configured to generate four output data streams by de-interleaving the output data stream.
 17. The device of claim 16 wherein each of the FEC blocks includes 21 bits.
 18. The device of claim 16 further comprising an FEC-lane (FECL) interleaver configured to interleave the four output data streams into one or two host data streams.
 19. The device of claim 16 wherein the first de-interleaver comprises a delay line configured to buffer 5440 bits.
 20. The device of claim 16 further comprising an FEC codeword framer configured to frame the FEC data blocks. 